Chapter 931: Long Line Big Fish (I)

This farce of a battle of wits and courage with everyone having their own ulterior motives finally came to an end under Xunzhen's "tough attitude".

Liu Xunyi, who was not ready yet, was forced by Xunzhen to take the top position without knowing why. He went from being a "last man" with nothing to a deputy leader with great power.

Afterwards, Liu Xunyi planned to go to Mobei immediately to look for Su He, but as more and more people from the martial arts world rushed to the northeast from the Central Plains in recent days, there was a panic outside the city of Shenzhou.

In order to avoid the attack temporarily, Xunzhen suggested keeping the troops in place for the time being and waiting until the wind died down a little before taking action.

So, in the next few days, Liu Xunyi began to familiarize himself with the operations of the four prefectures in Shangjing.

Following Xunzhen's arrangement, Yuan Xiao and the other three sent all the confidential files, including the population rosters, land and property, and financial accounts of the four prefectures in the capital, to Liu Xunyi for counting and calculation.

Perhaps due to time constraints or resentment, the things they sent were disorganized and chaotic.

Looking at the mountains of files and accounts and the countless boxes of gold, silver and jewelry, Liu Xunyi felt as if he was in another world and could not believe it for a long time.

The power of life and death that came from nowhere, the wealth and glory that came without any effort, the support of hundreds of people who just sat back and enjoyed the fruits of their labor...

Today, Liu Xunyi is not only rising rapidly, but has also ascended to heaven in one step.

Everything seemed like a bizarre dream of the Spring and Autumn Period, making Liu Xunyi feel uneasy and anxious.

Faced with the painstaking efforts of the four prefectures in Shangjing for more than twenty years, Liu Xunyi should not and did not want to get involved, either out of chivalry or out of human relations, but Xunzhen warned him righteously: "Establishing the Xilu Wuzong is not a child's play. This matter concerns the life and death of thousands of people. Since you are sitting in the position of deputy leader, you must govern your position and do your best to manage the four branches in the Central Plains, and do your best to expand and continue the Xilu Wuzong. You must not fill in the numbers, fish in troubled waters, and you must not be idle and perfunctory."

The desire to repay his gratitude and the feeling of being recognized made Liu Xunyi unable to refuse. Therefore, even though he was harassed and looked down upon by the disciples of the four prefectures, and even though they pointed fingers at him behind his back, he still gritted his teeth and made up his mind to find out the details of the four prefectures in Shangjing.

Having said that, Liu Xunyi was alone and weak, so how could he sort out the mess of accounts? He asked Xunzhen for help, but Xunzhen refused him politely on the grounds that he "had no time to look after other things".

In fact, Xunzhen was really too busy to do anything, and it was not an excuse to refuse. After all, she had to personally arrange the plan for the four prefectures in Shangjing to go south to the Central Plains.

At present, Liu Xunyi is nothing more than familiarizing himself with the details of the four prefectures in Shangjing and checking their accounts. Although it takes some time and energy, it is not too difficult. All he needs to do is be calm, careful and patient. Compared with Xunzhen's "hearty efforts", this matter is nothing.

When he was helpless, Pan Yuyin and Tang Afu stepped forward. The former sat in the hall and helped Liu Xunyi sort out the files and file them into books. The latter made secret investigations and found out the secrets and anecdotes of the four prefectures in Shangjing for Liu Xunyi.

With the help of the two of them, Liu Xunyi felt like a fish in water, and he could do things easily and easily.

On this side, Liu Xunyi led Tang Afu and Pan Yuyin to "calculate carefully" day and night. On the other side, Xunzhen weighed the pros and cons, pondered and carefully planned the Xilu Wuzong's entry into the Central Plains Wulin.

November 12, Yuan Mansion.

Yuan Xiao, Yan Shun, Hong Si, and Lei Zhen were invited to the main hall by Liu Xunyi. From morning till night, they reviewed the accounts one by one, until the night gradually deepened.

However, when they dragged their exhausted bodies out of the hall, they were stopped by Xiao Yang who suddenly appeared.

"Four captains, the young lady invites you."

Hearing this, Yuan Xiao and the other three looked at each other, their tired faces showing a look of boredom.

"Where is the young lady?"

"study."

"Lead the way."

There was no unnecessary nonsense, just a few simple questions and answers, and then Xiao Yang led Yuan Xiao and the other three towards the study.

"Bang, bang, bang."

"Come in."

"squeak!"

There was a slight sound, and the door opened to the left and right. Yuan Xiao and the other three, looking suspicious, walked into the study one after another.

The light was dim and dim, making Xunzhen, who was sitting behind the desk, look a little hazy. "Hello, young lady."

"No need to be polite, please come in!" Xunzhen warmly invited them to take a seat. At the same time, he slowly glanced at the four people who were in a bad mood with interest, and asked with a smile: "You look... tired?"

"Thank you for your concern, Miss. We are not tired." Lei Zhen replied in a muffled voice. His perfunctory attitude and indifferent tone all showed his inner dissatisfaction. It seemed that he was still upset about Xunzhen's stubbornness.

Faced with Lei Zhen's impoliteness, Xunzhen was not angry at all. Instead, he waved to Abaolu as if nothing had happened and said, "Give the four captains some tea..."

“We are not thirsty either…”

"Ahem!" Before Lei Zhen finished speaking, Yuan Xiao suddenly coughed twice and interrupted, "Thank you for your kindness, Miss. We have already drunk enough water in the hall just now, and we really can't drink any more now. I hope Miss will understand."

"Drink enough water?" Xunzhen joked, "Why is our deputy leader so stingy? You run around for him, but he doesn't even want to prepare a meal?"

"Luckily, at least we have something to drink. In a few days, when we hand over all our wealth to him, I'm afraid we won't even be able to drink a cup of tea!" Lei Zhen curled his lips and said sarcastically, "He called us today, and I thought there was something good going on. But it turned out to be a 'settle' with us, and he did it day by day. Not to mention the money, grain and land, even the clothes we wear, the rings on our hands, the gold teeth in our mouths...even our entire family, young and old, and everything we ate, drank, defecated and urinated in the past ten years were all settled. I don't understand, what's wrong with spending our own money on our own land? Damn it..."

“Thunder…”

"So damn 'serious', so damn 'rigorous', so damn 'responsible'... okay?" Without waiting for Yan Shun, who looked embarrassed, to whisper a reminder, Lei Zhen suddenly raised his voice and said confidently, "I am praising him, not scolding him! I am praising the deputy sect leader for being meticulous and careful in every detail, okay?"

"you……"

"In addition, our deputy clan leader has done many unexpected and surprising things." Lei Zhen ignored Xunzhen and Abaolu's displeasure, ignored Yuan Xiao's embarrassment, and cursed unscrupulously, "The eldest lady has already told us that he can ask us any questions at any time, and we will tell him everything we know. But our deputy clan leader likes to take a different approach. He never asks questions, but sends Tang Afu to inquire around. He collects some unofficial historical rumors that come out of nowhere, and makes up a story about the four prefectures in Shangjing that is worthless, and even ridicules our four family heads to the point of being completely useless. According to the information they have inquired about, we are all vicious bastards, all bullying dogs, and we should all be hacked to death without a burial place..."

"enough!"

Suddenly, Yuan Xiao, with a livid face, slammed his palm on the table, which immediately changed the look of Lei Zhen, who was talking incessantly, and his voice stopped abruptly.

"How can you say anything about how the deputy leader acts?" Yuan Xiao scolded, "Besides, he is working for the young prince of Qin and the eldest lady, it is not your turn to be dissatisfied or resentful. In my opinion, you just can't stand seeing a young junior riding on your head and bossing you around, but you can't do anything about it, so you just throw the pot into the fire. You don't want to make it easy for others, even if you don't make it easy for yourself..."

"Yuan Xiao, you are willing to be a dog for a brat, but I am not!"

"If you keep making trouble, you won't even be able to be a dog!"

"you……"

"enough!"

Seeing that Yuan Xiao and Lei Zhen refused to give in to each other and were talking more and more outrageously, Xunzhen could not help but feel angry. She tapped the teacup lightly with the lid and sighed meaningfully: "Shao Qin Wang has always hated internal fighting, but you and Liu Xunyi have been unable to get along. It's really... frustrating."

"Miss, it's not that we don't tolerate him, but that he doesn't tolerate us." Lei Zhen said angrily, "He would rather believe the rumors outside than believe us..."

"What? Did Liu Xunyi just listen to one side and wrongly accuse you?" Having said this, Xunzhen cast a suspicious look at the silent Hong Si and asked by name, "Master Hong, tell me!"

"That... is not the case." Hong Si pondered, "The deputy sect leader did not mention a word about those rumors."

"Since you haven't said a word, how do you know that those rumors have made up a story about you that is totally useless?"

"This is our territory, and we have spies everywhere. Therefore, we know exactly what he heard and saw when he sent Tang Afu out..."

"How dare you!" When Lei Zhen was feeling proud, Xun Zhen suddenly glared at him and shouted, "How dare you send someone to monitor the deputy leader?"

"We have no ill intentions, we are just taking precautions..." Lei Zhen panicked and began to hesitate, "We are worried that he is too young and inexperienced, and may be easily misled by rumors..."

"Excuses!" Xunzhen laughed in anger, "He keeps saying that Liu Xunyi doesn't believe you, but do you believe him? You sent people to monitor him without any ill intentions, but he sent people to inquire about you with ill intentions. How can such nonsense be justified in the world?"

"This……"

"I might as well tell you the truth. Liu Xunyi had no intention of interfering with your 'small treasury'. It was me who insisted that he collect all the accounts of the four prefectures in Shangjing and check them one by one. It was also me who told him to be meticulous. It was also my idea to let him find out your news from various sources. If you are resentful for this, then you should resent me!" Xunzhen's face was as gloomy as water, and every word was sonorous. "Lei Zhen, today Liu Xunyi was just checking the accounts, and you were furious as if someone stepped on your tail. If he is in charge of the accounts in the future, won't you rebel? The ancients said, 'A gentleman is open and honest, while a villain is always worried.' If you are upright, why do you care about what he does? If you don't give him a handle, you don't have to pay attention to those rumors. Now, you block him step by step, complain about everything, and make things difficult for him everywhere, which makes people suspicious. They wonder if you are honest on the outside but treacherous on the inside. Even... you are plotting something bad and are guilty of a crime."

……

(End of this chapter)